The Frankfort roundabout. [volume] (Frankfort, Ky.) 1882-1908, 1887-02-19
Letter From Florida.
ORLANDO, FLA. Feb. 8, 1887,


publishing, and the spirit moved me,
/ might write up Florida as 1 viewed
it," You have not said yet whether
you thought them worth publishing
or not, but find frequent notices of
them i'm other papers, besides private
letters from friends i'm Kentucky
and elsewhere, as far as Texas. But
whether you like them or not you
publish them all the same; and, as
they seem TO please my friends, ]
will still write them as long as stay,
or as long as ! can find anything to
write about without repetition.
When one is stationed at one place
things become mOnOtOnOuS. / find
things are now becoming somewhat
hOmelike, in many respects, especial
Nv SO far as business is concerned.
But am determined to have my
regular hours for recreation. | am
here for my health and do not in
tend to let business get control of me
as it had at home We eat breakfast
at s o'clock, and do not want to eat
earlier, for the reason that the fCgs
are so heavy, before this time, it is
disagreeable to go out. We would
become perfectly saturated with the
fog if we did. The people here do
not like for one to talk or write about
this, but nevertheless it is fact.
I Although the sky may be perfectly
clear, in the morning the fog is so
thick you can almost cut it with a
knife. ] never saw it half SO thick in
Frankfort. 1t is SO heavy the lands
can do without rain for longer
period than lands where fog is not, as
the leaves of the trees and other veg
citation gather the dew, which runs
down the body and goes in the
ground to their roots.
The forenoon / spend i'm filling
orders, delivering, sending out in
voices, writing letters, reading the
papers from home, and the daily
paper here.
/ find, to sleep sound, / must have
outdoor exercise; SO every evening,
after the heat of the day is over, l
have walk for miles, with Ken
lucky friend and my little girl. We
strike for the country and return
about dark, in time for supper.
The bOarders at our house are most
ly from MISUNDERSTANDING,
Lexington, Carlisle, Louisville, and
other points. / meet Kentuckians,
daily, from all over the State.
My health is improving daily. l
go out i'm the grove and eat oranges
before each meal, and then between
times, every day. There have been
no oranges gathered from the grove
belonging to the hotel, and, although
there are hundreds eaten every day,
they are not missed. Some of the
trees, / would say at guess, have
three thousand on them. This is an
old grove, being about twenty years
old The young trees have but few
oranges on them, compared to the old
ones. i see, from the papers, the
orange market is OverstOcked, al
though last winter large portion of
the orange trees were killed by the
cold weather What will the result
be when the young trees get to bear
ing? There are thousands of young
trees not bearing, to one old tree bear
ing. You cannot buy oranges here
much cheaper than in Frankfort, by
retail.
Orlando is certainly on the boom,
more so at this time than most any
place i'm Florida The hotels are
generally full here, while elsewhere
l learn they are not. Last year and
this, they put up, and are still put
ting up, large blocks of brick bust
ness houses, three stories high. There
is large four story brick hotel going
up, with fine large business rooms
underneath. i asked one man, dry
goods merchant, what rent he paid
for his stOre-rOOm? He replied tWen-
ty-twO hundred dollars per annum
There are twenty-five or thirty of
these brick business houses. The
bricks are made mostly i'm Georgia
and Northern Florida, and shipped
here i'm cars, and cost eighteen or
twenty dollars per thousand laid in
the walls. There is no solid fOunda-
ton here, they go down only twelve
or fifteen inches, the lower they go
the softer it gets. The Bible says a
a house built in the sand will not
stand; these may be an exception,
but it seems to me the immense
weight of the walls will naturally
make them give way.
Orlando has an Opera House
(frame), also a large brick market
house, three stories high, one hun
dred and fifty or two hundred feet
long, with everything that is eaten
for sale. There are now peas, beans,
and cabbage, all new grown, in the